The Future of Abortion Under a New Supreme Court? Look to Arkansas
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — When a patient arrived this spring at the only abortion clinic in western Arkansas, the doctor had startling news: A new state law had gone into effect, and clinics could no longer perform abortions via medication in the state. Less than a month later, a judge suspended the law, which is now the focus of a legal fight as Arkansas tries to reinstate it. The fight in Arkansas could help define the looming legal battle over abortion, 45 years after the Supreme Court made it a constitutional right.
There are 14 abortion cases currently before federal appeals courts, including the Arkansas case, and legal experts say any of them could be the first to reach the Supreme Court after Justice Anthony Kennedy’s retirement. Others include a parental consent law in Indiana, a ban on a common second-trimester abortion procedure in Alabama, and a requirement in Kentucky that ultrasounds be displayed and described.
The president’s nomination of Brett M. Kavanaugh, a conservative federal judge, for the Supreme Court has added urgency to the question of whether Roe v. Wade will survive the Trump administration. ... many legal experts say the more likely outcome of the change on the court, at least in the near term, will be less sweeping: States like Arkansas will get their way with smaller cases that reduce — but not eliminate — the right to an abortion.
“If you’re a woman in Arkansas, and you’re almost 200 miles away from a clinic, have a 48-hour waiting period, and a job that doesn’t give you sick leave or flexible hours, then your access to abortion has already been banned,” said Helene Krasnoff, head of litigation at Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/07/us/abortion-supreme-court-arkansas.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fus&action=click&contentCollection=us®ion=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=7&pgtype=sectionfront
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